"Mithras, the god of Mithraism, was [supposedly] ‘present' in the flesh and blood of the bull, and when consumed, granted salvation to those who partook of the sacrificial meal." Catholicism teaches that the bread and wine become Christ’s actual body and blood that we eat and drink. However, when Jesus said, "this is my body" and "this is my blood," it was symbolic; just as it is when the Bible also says Jesus is a rock, bread, and a door. He is not literally any of those either. And how would a still-living Christ, in His fully intact body, pass His own blood and body tissue to the disciples at the Last Supper? BIBLICAL COMMUNION IS SYMBOLIC In the early centuries A.D., Roman Emperor Constantine combined Christian and Pagan beliefs in a new religion that could be acceptable to many of either side. It later became Catholicism. Example: The Catholic Eucharist and Pagan Mithraism "Mithraism was another religion at that time of the Roman Empire, which was very popular...One of the key features of Mithraism was a sacrificial meal, which involved eating of the flesh and the drinking of the blood of a bull."